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Nan Kuhlman

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October 14, 2025
Nan Kuhlman
When Rain Doesn’t Spoil the Day

My worst “fear” about our expensive trip came true, but it turned out to be my favorite part. How did that happen?

 When Rain Doesn’t Spoil the Day
September 30, 2025
Nan Kuhlman
Worry and the Unlocked Car

My typical reaction would be to fret and worry about someone stealing the car or at the very least, taking the ancient iPad and extra snacks we left in there. But in the true spirit of a bucket list trip, I decided I was not going to think about the unlocked car until we returned on Sunday.

Worry and the Unlocked Car
July 29, 2025
Nan Kuhlman
Do You Like Cucumbers?

When things seem chaotic, it helps to think small, and having the conundrum of too many cucumbers gave me a little problem that kindness and generosity easily solved.

Do You Like Cucumbers?
June 10, 2025
Nan Kuhlman
It's Still Here

This Bur Oak tree will keep on producing oxygen, taking in our carbon dioxide, and providing acorns and shelter to local squirrels and wildlife. It is a life giver, not a life taker.

It's Still Here
May 27, 2025
Nan Kuhlman
Look Up

The impermanence of clouds can give us perspective about the world and its troubles. I can’t stay focused on the hate, corruption, and cruelty without being consumed by it, wrung out and hopeless.

Look Up
Nan Kuhlman
October 3, 2023

How Dogs Could Save the World

Nan Kuhlman
October 3, 2023
How Dogs Could Save the World

Dogs, whether they know it or not, transform us into better people if we let them.

 

Tagged: dogs, transformation

Nan Kuhlman
September 19, 2023

Lotus Flowers and Plantar Fasciitis

Nan Kuhlman
September 19, 2023
Lotus Flowers and Plantar Fasciitis

There’s the idea that suffering is what makes it possible for us to experience joy, much the same way that darkness allows us to notice light. It’s built into our experience of life.

Tagged: suffering, lotus flower

Nan Kuhlman
September 5, 2023

Rub Out the Worry Lines

Nan Kuhlman
September 5, 2023
Rub Out the Worry Lines

From my perspective, he’s safe: I’ve got him on a leash, and I’m not going to let him fall into the sewer opening. He knows this but has forgotten. From his limited perspective, he thinks that the only thing keeping him from the dark underground is himself.

Tagged: peace, worry

Nan Kuhlman
August 22, 2023

What Are You Attracting?

Nan Kuhlman
August 22, 2023
What Are You Attracting?

When it comes to the media or social media content we consume, the algorithm takes whatever we’re into and gives us more of it. While that can save us time, it also narrows our scope of information, for better or worse.

Tagged: hidden biases, social media

Nan Kuhlman
August 8, 2023

When Kindness Is Like Confetti

Nan Kuhlman
August 8, 2023
When Kindness Is Like Confetti

There’s no aiming with confetti. It is scattered profusely with no thought of targeting or reciprocity. There’s just joy.

Tagged: kindness

Nan Kuhlman
July 25, 2023

The Gecko and the Stones

Nan Kuhlman
July 25, 2023
The Gecko and the Stones

When we make mistakes, we can either put them out of our minds and try to forget them, or we can use what we learn from them to choose differently in the future.

Tagged: mistakes, compassion, choices

Nan Kuhlman
July 11, 2023

Belief, Experience, and a Good Samaritan

Nan Kuhlman
July 11, 2023
Belief, Experience, and a Good Samaritan

Rigidly holding to beliefs when experience shows them to be limited or even untrue isn’t helpful to anyone.

Tagged: compassion, beliefs, love

Nan Kuhlman
June 27, 2023

The Risk of Listening

Nan Kuhlman
June 27, 2023
The Risk of Listening

We have to consider the possibility that maybe we’re not right or as right as we thought. We have to let go of the wish to persuade and instead, risk the possibility that we might be changed.

Tagged: listening

Nan Kuhlman
June 13, 2023

What Are You Afraid Of?

Nan Kuhlman
June 13, 2023
What Are You Afraid Of?

If redemption, that act of being saved, is built into what makes me afraid, then it offers me a steady space to stand, regain my balance, and trust that I’ll know at the right time exactly what to do next.

Tagged: fear, anxiety

Nan Kuhlman
May 23, 2023

No Better

Nan Kuhlman
May 23, 2023
No Better

The mystery of resurrection is built into the world where what is buried somehow results in new life, and life changing form is something I can sense but not explain.

Tagged: grief, resurrection, mystery

Nan Kuhlman
May 9, 2023

Becoming Clearer and Lighter

Nan Kuhlman
May 9, 2023
Becoming Clearer and Lighter

Kawdigoo suggests that when life is muddied up, you need keep doing the things that promote stillness and settling, if not in your environment, then at least inside of you.

Tagged: peace, chaos, stillnes

Nan Kuhlman
April 25, 2023

Rest and Changing the World

Nan Kuhlman
April 25, 2023
Rest and Changing the World

Making sure to take a whole rest or a whole breath isn’t selfish. It’s filling the bucket for those full, four beats so that we can put on the hat (or half rest) of activity and exhale our offerings into the lives of other people.

Tagged: rest

Nan Kuhlman
April 11, 2023

Healing and Country Music

Nan Kuhlman
April 11, 2023
Healing and Country Music

I’ve heard it said that country music manages to tell a story in just a few minutes, and I’ve seen how it takes a life truth and puts legs on it, not to mention a catchy tune to help us all remember it.

Tagged: healing, grief

Nan Kuhlman
March 21, 2023

What I Overheard at Costco

Nan Kuhlman
March 21, 2023
What I Overheard at Costco

The saying “unrequested advice is criticism in disguise” has hit home for me a number of times, and I saw it in action at Costco.

Tagged: criticism, advice

Nan Kuhlman
March 7, 2023

No Complaints

Nan Kuhlman
March 7, 2023
No Complaints

If I think about why I complain, it probably would come down to this: I don’t like reality as it is, and I have my own idea of what it should be.

Tagged: Lent, complaining, acceptance

Nan Kuhlman
February 21, 2023

Out Beyond the Ideas of Advanced Lit Class

Nan Kuhlman
February 21, 2023
Out Beyond the Ideas of Advanced Lit Class

My work-study classmates didn’t deserve an A, but neither did they deserve an F. There was a compassionate middle way.

Tagged: compassion

Nan Kuhlman
February 7, 2023

Showing Up for Group Work

Nan Kuhlman
February 7, 2023
Showing Up for Group Work

Life isn’t built to be fair, yet for some reason, we seem shocked each time it shows itself. But life’s fairness isn’t the question.

Tagged: choice, empowerment

Nan Kuhlman
January 24, 2023

Use It Up

Nan Kuhlman
January 24, 2023
Use It Up

However, the pursuit of joy and beauty is not without risk of loss. But possessions are meant to be used up in the daily pursuit of joy and beauty, and preserving them for…whatever…we don’t know…puts life on hold and pushes our joy off into the future.

Tagged: joy, beauty, possessions

Nan Kuhlman
January 10, 2023

Composting for a New Year

Nan Kuhlman
January 10, 2023
Composting for a New Year

I know that holding close acts of kindness, gentleness, and love can be similar to burying those apple peelings and Brussels sprout trimmings. I know that looking for joy means that I will find it, even in the darkest places.

Tagged: personal growth, joy

Nan Kuhlman
December 27, 2022

Faucets and Legacy

Nan Kuhlman
December 27, 2022
Faucets and Legacy

He was showing me some practical things, but mostly, he was giving me confidence that thinking through problems, doing some research, and persevering was enough. Sometimes it is all that is needed.

Tagged: legacy, problem-solving

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